OMRON Introduces Hand Gesture Recognition Technology

RMN Digital | May 28, 2012 | Asia Pacific, Consumer, Corporate, Mobiles, Regions, Strategy, TVs, Cameras | No Comments

The input technologies to give instructions to electronic gadgets have been changing from traditional keyboards to digital mice to remote control devices and lately the touch-screen technology.

Now, you can simply use your hand gestures for operating your devices such as TV sets, cameras, etc. Japan’s OMRON Corporation announced today, May 28, that it has developed a new hand gesture recognition technology capable of simultaneously recognizing the position, shape, and motion of a person’s hand or finger by referencing a camera-recorded image.

By combining this technology with OMRON’s core facial image sensing technology, gesture recognition can be started automatically based on the analysis of interrelation between the position or direction of the face and the hand shape or position.

[ Also Read: 10 Things I Want Technology to Do for Me ]

While conventional gesture recognition technologies require a trigger motion to start the recognition process, such as waving a hand, OMRON’s technology does not require this, allowing more natural interaction with machines based on the interpretation of the user’s intention.

Aspects of this new technology will be demonstrated at the Symposium on Sensing via Image Information (SSII 2012) to be held in Pacifico Yokohama from June 6 to 8.

In recent years, gesture recognition has been attracting a great deal of attention as a natural human-machine interface. The technology allows users to control or manipulate devices in a more natural manner, such as operating a TV set with hand movements or releasing the shutter of a camera via a hand gesture.

Gesture recognition technology is already being used by video gaming companies. For example, Kinect for Xbox 360 is Microsoft’s controller-free gaming and entertainment experience that responds to body movement. (Read: Kinect for Xbox 360: Over 2.5 Million in 25 Days)

OMRON’s gesture recognition technology employs a statistical classification method and model-fitting technology. Through the modeling of hand shapes, this new technology enables speedy recognition of gestures using a small amount of memory. Moreover, high-speed recognition is enabled on smartphones and tablets.

OMRON plans to further advance its image sensing technology for detecting faces and recognizing human movements, aiming to create technology to correctly interpret the intention of users, such as judging what they are trying to do through the analysis of gestures.